


Contract Loopholes and Basic Clone Sexuality

by theimprobable1



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: First Time, Getting Together, Love Confessions, M/M, Porn with Feelings, Reunion Sex, Season/Series 06, butt stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:20:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26324053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theimprobable1/pseuds/theimprobable1
Summary: Troy interrupts his trip because he has something important to say to Abed.
Relationships: Troy Barnes/Abed Nadir
Comments: 29
Kudos: 209





	Contract Loopholes and Basic Clone Sexuality

Abed doesn’t think anything of it when there’s an unexpected knock on the door at ten in the morning, just as he’s getting ready to leave for school. Their next door neighbor is old and confused and sometimes she forgets that her friend who used to live in apartment 303 moved out years ago (or possibly died, Abed isn’t entirely sure). So he opens the door, expecting a disoriented old lady, and instead he finds…

_“Troy.”_

At first he thinks that maybe the thing he was mildly surprised didn’t happen when Troy left has finally happened now, ten months later, and he’s lost his mind. Maybe the cloning just caused a delay in his natural reactions. Because Troy can’t be here, he’s in Sri Lanka, or at least that’s where he was six days ago when he messaged Abed to express his disappointment at the discovery that the city of Colombo has nothing to do with Lieutenant Columbo and is in fact too hot to wear a raincoat. His trip isn’t anywhere near done. If he had decided to cut it short for some reason, he would have told Abed. He can’t be here.

Except he _is._ He’s wearing a jacket that’s way too light for the current weather, his duffel bag over his shoulder, he looks like he hasn’t shaved in at least two days, he’s rumpled and visibly tired and _real._

“Surprise?” Troy says after a moment, his tone lilting up at the end like he isn’t sure of Abed’s reaction. Probably because Abed has just been staring at him without moving a muscle.

With what feels like superhuman effort, Abed forces himself to step to the side so Troy can come in, letting the door fall shut behind him.

Troy drops his bag without taking his eyes off Abed, and it has to be real, it has to be, because there’s no way Abed’s subconscious could have fabricated the look on Troy’s face. Like he has to convince himself Abed is real, too.

“Sorry for showing up like this,” Troy mumbles, and before Abed can fully process the absurdity of Troy apologizing for being here, Troy nearly literally throws himself at him. Abed has to take a step back to keep his balance as Troy’s weight crashes into him and he’s pulled into a bone-crushing hug.

“How are you here?” Abed asks, still stunned. Troy tries to pull away but Abed doesn’t let him, tightening his arms around him instead. On the off-chance that this really is just his mind playing tricks on him after all, he intends to make the most of it. But Troy smells like it’s been a few days since he last showered, and that’s another detail that seems too realistic for a hallucination.

“I’m not really back,” Troy says, his breath tickling the crook of Abed’s neck. “I mean, I am really here,” he amends, as if he knew Abed had doubts. “But I can’t stay. The trip isn’t done.”

That sentence shakes Abed out of his stunned stupor. He steps away from Troy and looks at his beautiful, familiar face.

“Explain.”

“Turns out there’s a loophole in Pierce’s conditions,” Troy says. His hands are still holding onto Abed’s upper arms, as if he can’t bring himself to let go completely. “There’s nothing there to say I can’t take a break and go home for a bit.”

Abed blinks. It seems like a strange thing not to have noticed immediately. “Why didn’t you say?”

Troy makes a face Abed can’t interpret. “Because I wasn’t going to do it. I thought – I barely managed to leave the first time and it was awful and I didn’t think I could do it again. But then… hey, did you take down all the pictures of me?” He looks around the room, frowning at the pictures of Abed, Annie and Britta that have replaced the photos of him and Abed on the walls.

“They reminded us too much that you were gone,” Abed says, a little impatiently because home decor isn’t what matters right now. He doesn’t add that it didn’t help, since everything reminded Abed that Troy was gone. “What made you change your mind? Did something happen?” Maybe someone in Troy’s family got sick, that would explain why Troy needed to come home. Or maybe, he thinks with mounting worry, maybe _Troy_ is sick…

Troy looks at him. “You told me about the LA jobs.”

Abed tilts his head to the side, not understanding. What do his applications to various jobs in LA have to do with Troy’s return? And why does saying it make Troy look like he’s revealing some kind of very personal secret?

“I know you’re gonna get one of them. Or probably all of them because you’re brilliant and anyone would be lucky to hire you.” Abed knows Troy’s praise is biased and based more on Troy’s affection for him than on Abed’s actual skills, but somehow that just makes it more meaningful. He doesn’t have the heart to tell Troy he’s already received two rejections. “So when I’m finally done with this trip,” Troy continues, speaking slightly slower now, like it’s getting harder for him to get the words out, “you won’t be here anymore. You’ll be in LA. So this might be my last chance to come home.” He swallows visibly. “To you. Because that’s – that’s where home is, I think, for me. With you.”

Abed’s head is spinning. Troy’s here. Really here. He’s here because _he wanted to be able to come home to Abed._ He wonders if it is, at its core, the same feeling that’s making Abed want to leave: because this place doesn’t feel like home anymore without Troy in it.

“That doesn’t mean I don’t want you to take the job when you get it!” Troy says hastily, when Abed is silent for perhaps a little too long. “You absolutely should, I know it’s your dream and I want you to have that, but you’ll be famous and you’ll have new friends who’ll probably be cooler than me and maybe you’ll forget about me and even if you don’t it’ll just be _different_ and I--”

Abed kisses him. He’s always wanted to try the shut-up kiss trope, but that’s not really why he does it. He does it because he can’t help himself, because he should have done it years ago, long before Troy left, and he’s been regretting not having the courage to do it ever since the moment Troy stepped on the boat. This might be Abed’s last chance, too. Troy’s here, unexpectedly, miraculously, and he can’t let this opportunity slip through his fingers. He intends the kiss to be brief and chaste, a quick peck to Troy’s lips that are still open mid-word, just to show him how Abed feels. But when he moves to pull back Troy follows him, recovering quickly from his surprise and reaching up for Abed’s mouth like he’s only been waiting for Abed to give him permission, and suddenly there’s nothing brief or particularly chaste about it.

Troy kisses him like he’s wanted to do that for as long as Abed has, like he’s suffered just as much by being apart – or maybe Abed is just projecting his own feelings onto him, but he doesn’t even care. The only thing he cares about is that he’s kissing Troy and Troy is kissing him back, his mouth equal parts yielding and insistent on his, and it’s not a nicely prearranged cinematic kiss at all, it’s messy and uncoordinated, their teeth clashing together and their noses bumping against each other and Troy’s lips are more chapped than Abed would like but it doesn’t matter, he’s kissing Troy and it’s perfect, it’s everything, and if the audience doesn’t like it that’s their own fucking problem. He wraps an arm around Troy’s waist, pulling him flush to his chest, and Troy moans, kissing him harder. Or maybe it’s Abed who kisses harder and Troy lets him, opening his mouth wider so Abed can deepen the kiss even more, Abed isn’t sure anymore where his own mouth ends and Troy’s begins, only that it feels too good, hot and slick and wet.

“How could I ever forget about you,” he gets out when he has to come up for air, pushing Troy’s jacket off his shoulders. “You’re all I ever think about.” It’s a blatant exaggeration, but one that he feels is appropriate for a scene like this.

“Oh,” Troy says, and it’s unclear whether it’s a reaction to Abed’s words or Abed latching onto his neck, but it makes a shiver run down Abed’s spine either way. Troy struggles a little with getting his jacket fully off, but once it’s on the floor one of his hands sneaks underneath Abed’s T-shirt, sending a scatter of sparks through Abed’s entire nervous system once it touches bare skin, and the other buries itself in Abed’s hair, tugging a little to bring his head up for another kiss.

It’s _definitely_ not chaste anymore. All of Abed’s blood is rushing south and he can feel Troy is in a similar situation when he shoves his thigh between Troy’s legs and pushes him against the door… The door? Why are they still in the hall? This isn’t how their first time should happen.

“Bedroom?” he asks, and he’s pretty sure it comes out as something close to a growl. Troy noticeably shudders in his arms.

“Yeah,” Troy agrees, and Abed grabs his hand to pull him towards the bedroom, but then: “Wait.”

“Yes?” Abed says, and waits, even though he doesn’t want to wait, especially given how raspy Troy’s voice sounds and how dilated his pupils are and the fact that he’s Troy Barnes and Abed is about to have sex with him.

“Not that I don’t like where this is going, because I like it _a lot,_ but I took three planes to get here and I don’t even remember the last time I took a shower. I’m probably kinda gross.”

“I don’t care,” Abed says, because _gross_ is about the furthest word from his mind right now, but he’s also reminded that Troy just flew here from Sri Lanka and his trip isn’t done and he isn’t staying and they’re on borrowed time. “How long do we have?” he asks, even though he doesn’t really want to know.

“Until Monday morning,” Troy replies, his face falling.

Less than 96 hours.

“Then I _definitely_ don’t care,” Abed says. He’s not wasting a single second of this precious extra time with Troy. “Unless you do,” he adds, because nothing is worth Troy being uncomfortable.

Troy seems to think about it for a second, then shrugs and lunges to kiss Abed again, which is answer enough.

The distance between the hall and Abed’s bedroom has never seemed so long. They make slow progress, groping and grinding as they go, kicking off shoes and discarding items of clothing. By the time Abed fumbles with the doorknob and they fall inside, they’re both struggling out of their pants, he’s so hard it hurts and Troy is making absolutely delightful little noises.

He pushes Troy onto the bed and climbs up over him, holding himself up above him on all fours. He’s wanted this for so long and with so little hope of fulfillment that his brain can’t fully process that it’s actually happening now, when he’s almost given up hope of even just seeing Troy again. So he takes a moment to take it all in, Troy under him, his face and neck visibly flushed, his chest rising and falling with panting breaths, the trembling muscles of his stomach, the growing wet patch on his underwear.

“Abed,” Troy whines, reaching up for Abed and trying to pull him down on top of him, wonderfully impatient.

“What do you want?” Abed asks, and then doesn’t wait for an answer before he drops his hips down and grinds his clothed erection against Troy’s.

“Ah, _Abed,”_ Troy gasps, squirming under him.

“What – do – you – want,” Abed repeats, punctuating each word with a sharp thrust of his hips, making more beautiful noises spill from Troy’s throat.

“Just – please, Abed. Please just touch me.” And oh, Troy saying _please_ in that breathy, broken voice – that’s something else. If Abed wasn’t so desperate to get off and get Troy off, he’d try to get him to beg some more.

As it is, he just pushes down Troy’s boxer briefs, licks his palm and wraps his fingers around Troy’s cock.

“Like this?” he asks as he begins moving his hand slowly, half teasing, half genuinely wanting to know.

“Yes, oh please, please, Abed,” Troy moans, his hips jerking up, hands scrambling against the sheets. Apparently he doesn’t actually have to _try_ to make Troy beg, Abed’s lust-drunk brain notes with satisfaction, it just happens on its own. Variations of _please_ and _more_ and _Abed_ pour freely from his lips, along with broken moans and gasps. Abed knew, somewhere in the back of his mind where he didn't want to look too often, that Troy would be loud in bed, because he’s generally expressive and also because Abed heard him, struggling to stay quiet in the bottom bunk under him when he thought Abed was asleep. He’s pleased to have that theory proven right.

It’s just a hand job and Abed isn’t even the one getting it, yet it’s without any doubt the hottest thing that’s ever happened to him. Because it’s Troy, and Abed gets to do this to him, gets to make him feel good, make him whimper and writhe and rock his hips up into Abed’s fist and he looks _so good_ like this.

“You look so good like this,” he says, and Troy makes a sound like a choked sob and comes, spilling all over Abed’s hand.

Abed strokes him through it, watching the aftershocks ripple through Troy’s body, and the moment Troy relaxes with a deep sigh Abed lets go and shoves his stained hand down his own underwear, unable to wait a second longer. He tugs at himself at a brutal pace, gasping for breath as the last few minutes replay in his mind in a series of overexposed flashes. The next thing he knows, Troy’s lips are crashing against his and he’s groaning into Troy’s mouth as his own release overtakes him.

“You have to let _me_ do that next time,” Troy murmurs before collapsing back against the pillows, and Abed thinks _next time – next time – next time_ in sync with his hammering heart.

He wipes his hand on a stray piece of clothing he can’t be bothered to identify. When he lies down next to Troy, Troy immediately burrows into his chest, the same way he sometimes did after watching a movie that upset him, and somehow that feels almost better than the orgasm. Abed wraps his arms around him and reminds himself, again, that this is real.

“I’ve wanted this for so long,” Troy slurs into Abed’s neck, his voice heavy with sleepiness. “I was just too stupid to realize until after I’d left.”

Something lodges itself in Abed’s throat, making it impossible to get any words out, so he just pulls Troy into a tighter embrace, dropping kisses everywhere he can reach – his hair, his forehead, his ear, the side of his face. 

Troy sighs and nuzzles closer, his breathing slowing and deepening. It’s not the first time he’s fallen asleep in Abed’s arms, but that doesn’t make this instance any less momentous. 

Abed’s mind buzzes with everything that’s happened. He kind of wishes now they had talked more first instead of jumping straight into bed. Spur-of-the-moment sex can lead to all kinds of drama. It’s not uncommon for one of the characters to think it was a mistake. Which… he doesn’t think it’s particularly likely Troy would think that, based on everything he said, but it’s possible. His view of things could be different when he’s no longer high on endorphins. Abed never knew Troy was attracted to men, and he has no idea how Troy feels about this aspect of his sexuality. He might want to pretend it never happened, once he’s thinking clearly. Or he might simply see it as a one-time thing, or a friends-with-benefits thing. Which would be fine, really, if that was what Troy wanted. He just wishes he knew, so he could anticipate what it will mean for the future of their friendship. 

But for now, Troy’s sleeping peacefully in his arms, and Abed wants to enjoy that as long as it lasts… or at least until the moment where watching someone sleep becomes really boring, even if they happen to be the love of your life, not to mention the creepy vampire boyfriend territory he would be entering if he kept it up for too long. He disengages himself from Troy’s embrace after a while, careful not to wake him, pulls on his jeans and tiptoes out of the bedroom.

He takes a moment to appreciate the trail of clothes they’ve left on the floor. It would be perfect for the typical uninterrupted shot, the camera following the scattered clothing items from the apartment door all the way to the bed, where it would find the two of them sleeping blissfully interlaced, or perhaps collapsed in a heap of exhaustion. Except Abed has already left the bed, so that’s ruined. He shrugs and begins picking up the clothes, putting on his own and folding Troy’s on top of his duffel bag.

He spends the next few hours in a weird headspace, thinking about Troy and then trying very hard not to think about Troy. He forgets that today is just a normal Thursday and he’s supposed to have classes as well as a Save Greendale Committee meeting, only remembering when he gets several texts asking about his whereabouts. He thinks about texting back ‘Troy’s here’, but he doesn’t think he could deal with the flurry of excitement and questions that would follow, so he just doesn’t reply. Britta and Annie will be home soon anyway.

Which reminds him that they probably shouldn’t find Troy naked in Abed’s bed, and that Troy might appreciate the opportunity to shower before facing them. He opens the bedroom door to find Troy still fast asleep, cuddling one of Abed’s pillows. He's getting drool on it, but somehow that seems adorable rather than disgusting. And Abed is now intimately familiar with Troy’s saliva, after all.

He says Troy’s name several times at rising volume, and when that doesn’t work, he shakes Troy’s shoulder gently. His skin is warm under Abed’s palm, and even though he’s touched Troy way more intimately than that, it still makes his cheeks heat for some reason.

Troy’s eyes blink open, and when they focus on Abed, his face immediately splits into a wide, sleepy grin.

“Hey,” he croaks, and smiles even wider, like he doesn’t mind getting woken up if it means he gets to look at Abed, and Abed… isn’t sure if his heart can take Troy looking at him like that.

He has to swallow twice before he gets his throat to work. “Annie and Britta will be here soon. I thought you might want to take a shower before they get here.”

“Hmm.” Troy continues smiling up at him dopily for a moment, and Abed can see the exact second when his words register with Troy and he remembers where he is and what happened between them, because that’s when the smile falls off.

Troy sits up abruptly, rubbing at his face. “Did I fall asleep? I didn’t mean to do that.”

“It’s okay, you’re jet-lagged,” Abed says, waiting for Troy to do something that will tell him how he’s supposed to act now.

Troy’s eyes dart around the room, clearly taking it in for the first time. “Wow. It’s so weird that this is your room now.”

Abed doesn’t know what to say to that, so he doesn’t say anything. Then it occurs to him that maybe Troy is waiting for him to leave so he can get dressed. It makes no logical sense to be modest after what they’ve done, but people are strange like that sometimes.

He averts his eyes and takes a step back. “Are you hungry? I can make you a sandwich,” he says, mainly to give himself a reason to leave.

Troy perks up. “Do we have Lucky Charms? I miss Lucky Charms.”

_We,_ he said. Not _you._ Abed feels like someone punched him in the heart, but in a good way.

“And Special Drink?” he offers. When he glances at Troy, he’s beaming at him again, and it doesn’t even matter to Abed that this smile is inspired by the prospect of eating breakfast food at four in the afternoon.

“Yes please,” Troy agrees enthusiastically. “Did you know that other countries have different breakfast cereals? Britta was _so wrong_ when she said the whole world’s been Americanized. I couldn’t get Lucky Charms _anywhere.”_

Abed points a finger gun at him. “Extra large serving of Lucky Charms and Special Drink, coming right up.” Even though pouring a bowl of cereal and mixing milk and cocoa powder takes very little time, Abed moves towards the kitchen to get started on it. He needs to do something with his hands.

“Abed?” Troy calls after him before he can leave the bedroom. Abed turns to look at him, sitting in the center of the bed with blankets pooling in his lap. He’s not smiling anymore, but his eyes are very soft. 

“I’m really glad that happened,” he says quietly, like he’s not sure he should be admitting that, but he holds Abed’s gaze. 

It’s like something that had been constricting Abed’s lungs suddenly releases.

“Me too,” he breathes, and just like that, the adoring smile is back on Troy’s face. Abed can feel himself smile back.

A little while later, Troy joins him in the kitchen, freshly showered, dressed and shaved (a part of Abed regrets that). He ignores the bowl of cereal ready on the counter and instead steps closer to Abed, smiling shyly.

“I’d really like to kiss you right now,” he murmurs. “Can I?”

It’s a wholly unnecessary question, but Abed still likes that Troy asked. He really thinks they should talk now, but the prospect of kissing Troy is too tempting, so he nods.

It’s a soft kiss, sweet and lingering. Troy tastes like minty toothpaste and smells like --

“You used my body wash.” It smells slightly different on Troy than it does on Abed, and some primal part of Abed likes it a lot.

“Yeah, is that okay? I have my own, but it’s not the same one I used before and it’s got a sort of spicy scent? I wasn’t sure you’d like it.”

It’s equal parts thoughtful and hot: thoughtful in that Troy remembered Abed can’t bear certain smells, and hot in that Troy clearly wanted to be sure Abed would have no objections to getting close to him… Abed can’t decide which part he wants to focus on first, but then concludes that kissing Troy again is a good answer to both.

He leans in, but before his lips can meet Troy’s, there’s the sound of the door opening, and they jump apart. Annie and Britta walk in, and then there’s the expected amount of squeeing and shouting and hugging and laughing.

“Abed, why didn’t you let us know?” Britta asks, punching him in the arm gently. “You can’t keep Troy to yourself!”

Abed knows she’s just being playful, but the fact is he does want to keep Troy to himself. Of course he understands that Troy has missed his other friends too and they have missed him and they all want an opportunity to reconnect and Abed would never take that away from them, but deep down he wishes they could just be alone and explore whatever it is that’s developing between them. And whenever Troy catches his eye, he knows that Troy is thinking about the same thing. 

They call Jeff and order pizza and it turns into an impromptu welcome home party. They skype Shirley, who’s heartbroken that she can’t be there with them in person. Troy regales them with stories from the boat and various places he’s visited, and in return they tell him about Frankie and Elroy and MeowMeowBeenz and buried treasure and dogs that attended Greendale but didn’t get a degree. 

Abed mostly hangs back and stays quiet, observing and occasionally contributing a word or two when prompted. He and Troy exchange glances at regular intervals, like they can’t keep themselves from looking at each other (Abed knows that he definitely can’t keep himself from looking at Troy). In a movie, they would sneak out to the bathroom to make out and probably get caught, but that won’t work here – there’s just five of them and Troy is the guest of honor, their absence would be too obvious. There’s nothing else to do but wait for the night to end.

“You okay?” Annie asks him at some point. “It’s a lot, huh?”

Abed nods, continuing to fold and refold a takeout menu. It is a lot, more than Annie can know. Having Troy back so unexpectedly, but not to stay. Having kissed him and touched him when he thought he could never have that, yet being unable to talk about it for now and being unsure what it means. He’s surprised by how much he wants to tell her, but there’s no privacy and he doesn’t know how Troy would feel about anyone else knowing.

When they eventually settle down to watch The Lego Movie, since Troy hasn’t seen it yet, Britta and Jeff take the two chairs and Abed, Troy and Annie take the couch. Annie curls up against Troy’s side, and he puts an arm around her and rests his head on Abed’s shoulder. It’s something they’ve done many times before but this time it makes Abed’s heart stutter in his chest. He doesn’t take in the movie at all, all of his attention focused on the weight of Troy’s head on his shoulder, and then on Troy’s hand, slowly inching closer to his. Abed shifts his hand incrementally, and then their pinkies are touching. And it’s ridiculous that this should feel significant, they’ve held hands before, _they’ve had sex,_ but for some reason it does. 

Troy tilts his head back to look at him, the question obvious in his eyes. _Can I hold your hand?_

Abed glances at Annie and back at Troy, raising an eyebrow. _She might see. Are you okay with that?_

Troy shrugs minutely. _I don’t mind if you don’t._

That’s all the permission Abed needs. He takes Troy’s hand, resting their joined hands on his thigh. Troy immediately threads their fingers together, and they’ve definitely never held hands like that before. If Annie notices, she doesn’t let it show, but after a while she gets up and goes to kitchen to refill the bowl of popcorn and when she returns, she doesn’t go back to the couch and instead perches on the arm of Britta’s chair, and Abed understands that she _has_ notices and is trying to give them some privacy.

Troy cuddles into his side and eventually Abed lets go of his hand to put his arm around Troy’s shoulders to pull him closer because he _needs him closer_ , and he’s not even pretending to watch the movie now, he’s watching Troy. His upturned face, his gentle eyes framed by long lashes, his full lips, whose feel against his own is fresh in Abed’s memory… and he’ll get to experience it again soon… soon…

Troy meets him halfway, their lips sliding softly against each other. It doesn’t matter that their friends are right there and there’s a movie playing. There’s only Troy, the warmth of his mouth, the touch of his hand on Abed’s jaw, the soothing rhythm of his breathing where the side of his chest is pressed against Abed’s. They kiss and kiss and kiss and kiss because there’s so much time they need to make up for and Abed has no idea how long it’s been when they finally separate and he becomes aware of a whispered conversation next to them.

“... just saying there’s no need for us to keep watching a kids’ movie when the kids have grown up and are entertaining themselves.”

“Guys, can you just shut up and stop ruining their moment?”

“I doubt they’d notice if we started shouting.”

“Please don’t test that theory.”

“I wasn’t going to, oh my god--”

_“Shh!”_

Troy and Abed look at each other and snicker, like they just got caught doing something vaguely inappropriate but totally awesome – which they did.

The sound alerts the other three, who turn towards them with wide eyes and slightly sheepish expressions, like _they_ got caught doing something inappropriate but way less awesome.

“Uh,” Troy says awkwardly, then shrugs and smiles. “Yeah.”

Abed can see Annie vibrating with excitement and Britta is clearly about to launch into an aggressively supportive speech that Jeff will interrupt to make fun of her and then say something mildly sarcastic but actually encouraging about how he’s proud of them for sorting themselves out, which will make Troy really happy, and Annie will squeal and hug them, and it will all be very positive, Abed knows that because he knows them, but he’s suddenly not sure if he can face their reactions right now, when the thing between him and Troy is still so knew and unnamed.

“You guys!” Annie gushes, speaking over whatever Britta was starting to say. “I’m so happy for you!”

“Thanks, Annie,” Troy beams, then he takes one look at Abed and his expression shifts. “But, um. This is super new and we haven’t even talked about it yet and I think we need to do that now, so… can you all be happy for us a bit later?”

“Annie, Britta, how about we take this to a bar?” Jeff smirks. “Our presence here is clearly not needed.”

“But it’s a school night!” Annie protests while clearly physically restraining herself from throwing herself at Troy and Abed. And then Abed stops paying attention to the three of them, because Troy takes his hand and tugs gently, leading him to the bedroom.

“Sorry, I think we did everything in the wrong order,” Troy says when the door falls shut behind them, turning to face Abed. Abed opens his mouth to point out that Troy is clearly not the only one to blame, but Troy doesn’t let him. “No, let me say this. This was supposed to be the first thing I said to you.” He holds Abed’s gaze, his face open and determined, and Abed can feel his heart in his throat. “I love you. That’s what – that’s the real reason I’m here. I needed to tell you that, and I couldn’t wait for the trip to be over because it just keeps taking longer and longer and by the time it’s done you’d have met someone else and I’d have missed my chance, so I had to… And I know I probably missed my chance anyway by not realizing before I left, so if you just want to… do stuff while I’m here and then go back to the way things were, that’s fine, I’m not asking you to wait for me or anything…”

“Troy,” Abed says firmly, taking a step closer. Troy immediately stops talking, looking up at Abed with wide eyes. “I want to ‘do stuff’ while you’re here, and then I want to wait for you.”

Troy swallows. “You do?”

“Yes.” Abed has never been more certain of anything in his life. “I love you too, Troy. I think I’ve been waiting for you since long before you left.”

“Oh.” Troy touches his face gently, his expression sad. “I’m sorry for not figuring this out sooner.”

Abed shakes his head. “It’s okay. I could’ve said something, and I didn’t.”

“Maybe we both needed to be clones to get our shit together.”

“Maybe.” Maybe they needed to be apart to fully understand why they didn’t want to.

“So… clone boyfriends?” Troy offers, smiling a toothy, lopsided smile.

“Clone boyfriends,” Abed agrees, and Troy gives him a look of such pure, undiluted joy it nearly makes his heart stop. They do their handshake, because agreeing to be clone boyfriends is undoubtedly the most awesome thing either of them has ever said, but at the end Abed clasps Troy’s hand in his to pull him closer. Troy goes willingly, already reaching up to claim Abed’s mouth.

How did Abed live for so long without kissing him? How _will_ he live without kissing him, once Troy leaves again in just a few short days? It seems impossible, but Abed doesn’t want to think about that now. For now, he just wants to be Troy’s boyfriend.

They tumble into bed, taking more time now to explore each other’s bodies, to touch and caress and kiss newly exposed skin as they undress each other, and Abed knows with absolute certainty that nothing has ever felt like this, like having Troy Barnes lean into his every touch and knowing that he loves him. He wants to do everything at once, wants to drop to his knees and take Troy in his mouth, wants to bend Troy over the bed and pound into him, wants to take his sweet time and worship every inch of Troy’s body, wants to make Troy scream, wants to stuff Troy’s mouth full of his cock, wants to ride him into oblivion. His mind ricochets from one scenario to the next, unable to settle on one thing. He wants to be touching Troy everywhere in every way, he tweaks Troy’s nipple but lets it go in favor of massaging his ass, he sucks on Troy’s pulse point but stops because he needs to taste the trail of hair under his belly button, he grinds Troy into the mattress but then flips them because he wants to feel Troy’s weight on top of him, and it all feels _so good_ but like too much and not enough at the same time and he’s not used to feeling like this, he doesn’t get overwhelmed by sex, that doesn’t happen to him, it doesn’t happen to him because he’s always in control, he’s in control, he’s--

“Hey, buddy,” Troy says, the word so incongruent with what they’re doing and the way his voice is thick with desire it jolts Abed’s brain into stillness. He strokes Abed’s hip soothingly while rubbing his cheek against Abed’s. “Let’s just slow down a little, yeah?”

He plants wet kisses along Abed’s jaw before finding his mouth again and kissing him, deep and thorough but with a little less heat and urgency, less foreplay and more comfort, because he just knows Abed well enough for that. Abed has never been with anyone who knew him that well – most people didn’t know him at all. But Troy knows him, Troy can tell when he isn’t 100% comfortable even in a context that’s completely new for them, Troy calls him _buddy_ when they’re naked in bed together because they may be boyfriends now but they’re still best friends too, and maybe that word has always secretly been a romantic pet name, their very own ‘as you wish’.

He breaks the kiss and meets Troy’s eyes. “Tell me what you want.”

“You.”

“That’s flattering, but unspecific. I need to know what to focus on.”

“Oh, um.” Troy blinks somewhat shyly. “Butt stuff?”

Abed smirks, his confidence returning. Did he really need to ask?

“That’s better, but still leaves a lot of room for interpretation.”

“You know what I mean.”

“No, I don’t,” Abed insists, even though he’s fairly certain he does. “What stuff should be done to whose butt?”

Troy gulps. The room is too dark to tell if he’s blushing, but Abed is pretty sure he is. He lays his hand on Troy’s cheek and feels the blazing heat of it under his palm.

“Tell me, Troy.”

“Fuck me,” Troy says, and even though Abed wanted him to say it, expected him to say it, hearing it sends a jolt to his dick that shocks a sharp intake of breath out of him. Troy clearly doesn’t miss that reaction, because he adds, with more confidence and a hint of teasing, “Please fuck me, Abed. I want you to fuck me.”

Everything falls into sharper focus. He surges up and covers Troy’s mouth with his, pushing him back into the pillows as a fresh wave of desire courses through him. Everything is clear when he remembers that what he wants to do more than anything is make Troy feel good.

“Have you done this before?” he asks, running his hands down Troy’s sides.

“Yeah,” Troy exhales against his lips. “I mean, sort of.”

“Sort of?”

“Not with a guy. But Britta had, you know. A strap-on.”

It’s ridiculous to be jealous of a lover’s past, and being the first one to do a particular act with someone doesn’t make you any more special than being the fiftieth. And yet, knowing that he’ll be the first man that gets to fuck Troy, that Troy didn’t let some sexy stranger he met during his travels do that to him – it makes something base and animal in Abed roar with satisfaction. 

“Hmm, so it’s been a while,” he observes as he trails his lips along Troy’s clavicle, loving the way Troy arches into it.

“Yeah, but, um. I bought – I have a --”

Abed lifts his head with interest. “Yes?”

“A toy,” Troy admits in a rush of breath. “A dildo. So you don’t have to worry about being too gentle or anything.”

Abed’s vision nearly blacks out. He imagines Troy lying on a narrow bed in a cabin, his legs spread open and face twisted in pleasure as he stuffs a thick dildo inside himself. He breathes deeply, trying to get himself under control.

“You use it often?” he asks, his voice croaky.

“Kinda, yeah,” Troy admits, looking at Abed with heavy-lidded eyes. He licks his lips and adds, “Sometimes I’d fuck myself on it and imagine it’s you.”

Abed’s cock throbs and he groans, hiding his face in Troy’s neck. “If you keep saying things like that this will be over way too soon.”

Troy giggles. He wraps his arms around Abed in a loose hug and actually giggles, as if Abed’s reaction to something that’s objectively unbearably erotic was funny. Abed lifts his head to glare at him, except Troy looks so happy and turned on and adoring that Abed just smiles at him instead and presses a kiss to his lips as he fumbles for the nightstand drawer to find lube and condoms.

Troy definitely isn’t laughing anymore when Abed sucks on his nipple as he prods gently at his opening before pushing inside. He opens him up slowly, savoring every twitch of Troy’s body, every sharp intake of breath, every little gasp and whimper. By the time he has three fingers working him open, Troy’s covered in a sheen of sweat and moaning continuously as he rocks back against Abed’s fingers and he’s absolutely _breathtaking._ The way his body squirms and writhes, his cock flush against the firm muscles of his stomach, the hair on his chest, patches of it wet from Abed’s saliva, the tendons of his neck straining as he throws his head back, his teeth digging into his lower lip, his eyelashes fluttering, nostrils flaring.

Remembering Troy’s positive reaction from earlier, Abed tells him. “You’re so gorgeous, Troy. So hot. I could come just from watching you.” He doesn’t feel like he’s particularly exaggerating, either. He’s harder than he’s ever been in his life and every sound Troy makes sends him closer to the precipice.

Troy whines louder than ever, hips lifting off the bed. “Abed, _fuck._ Please, just – I’m ready, please.”

Abed pulls his fingers out. “I’m going to fuck you now,” he announces in a low voice, mostly for Troy’s benefit, but he’d be lying if he said that hearing himself say that didn’t turn him on a little more. “But you have to promise to keep your voice down. Can you do that?” He isn’t sure if the others have left, and even if they had, they have neighbors. One day, though, when they have sufficient privacy, he’ll find out exactly how loud he can make Troy scream.

“Yes, yes, please,” Troy agrees eagerly, spreading his legs wider and pulling his knees up. It takes all of Abed’s self-restraint not to just ram into him right then.

“You’ll be good?” he asks, testing a theory as he rolls the condom onto his aching dick, Troy’s glassy eyes fixed on him.

“I’ll be so good, Abed, I’ll be so good, _please,_ I need --” Troy babbles, delightfully desperate, and Abed marvels at how easy it is to reduce him to a needy, pleading mess. And Abed gets to do that, gets to see him like this, vulnerable and trusting and unashamed and so wonderfully responsive.

He slots his hips between Troy’s thighs, leaning down to kiss him deeply as he lines up.

“I’ll give you what you need,” he promises, pretty confident by now in what reaction his deep growl will produce in Troy. It’s not surprising, really, to discover that Troy likes someone who’s in charge, someone who’ll take care of him – he likes Abed, after all.

He locks eyes with Troy when he breaches him, which he thinks is some sort of romance novel cliché, but romance novels aren’t his area of expertise so he’s not sure, he’d have to ask Annie, and he really doesn’t want to be thinking about Annie right now, even if the only reason he started thinking about romance novels in the first place was to distract himself from how hot and tight and _perfect_ Troy is around him. Troy’s doing a good job of keeping his voice relatively down but he’s by no means silent, an endless stream of moans pouring out of his mouth, mostly Abed’s name and low, shapeless cries. Abed moves slowly at first, careful, measured thrusts, ignoring the quivering of his muscles that want to go faster. 

“You feel so good, Troy,” he whispers against Troy’s ear, which is when Troy gasps and starts rolling his hips to meet him, and Abed takes that as a sign to start fucking him in earnest, pulling out almost completely and then thrusting in deep, finally letting his body take control of the rhythm. He knows he’s found the right angle when Troy clamps a hand over his mouth to stifle a shout, his back arching. He wants more, it’s obvious in the way his body moves and the sounds muffled against his palm, and Abed focuses all of his energy on giving it to him, driving into him harder and faster and deeper. He registers in the back of his mind that there’s no chance this is going to last as long as he’d like it to. There’s liquid heat coiling in the pit of his stomach, and he pulls Troy’s hand out of the way to mash their mouths together in what would probably meet only the loosest definition of kiss. Troy’s noises spill out again, a litany of _AbedAbedAbed,_ and there’s no way Abed can survive this. He’s making noise now too, his control faltering, unable to keep quiet any more than he could still the rapid movements of his hips. 

He delivers a few more powerful thrusts and groans as he comes hard, burying himself deep inside Troy. His body shakes with waves of pleasure and he has to wait for it to subside before he can force his suddenly sluggish muscles to move, shifting a little to give himself room to take hold of Troy’s cock, hard and leaking between them. It doesn’t take long to push Troy over the edge, and he comes _beautifully,_ muscles contracting, come splattering all over his chest as he cries out into Abed’s mouth.

They both just lie there for a while after that, catching their breath, Abed trying to find a way to move even though his bones are made of jelly now. Eventually he manages to muster enough energy to dispose of the condom and clean them both up with the wet wipes he keeps in his nightstand. (Not Hawthornes. He had to stop using those since they reminded him of Troy too much.) Troy is soft and pliant as Abed wipes him down gently, and curls into his chest as soon as he’s done.

“That was pretty awesome,” he murmurs. He sounds tired and a little hoarse, but not sleepy.

“Yes,” Abed agrees, and then adds, “ _You_ were pretty awesome,” because it’s true.

Troy hums happily and kisses the closest bit of skin he can reach, so when Abed feels something wet on his chest he thinks at first that it’s just that, but then he realizes it’s a tear.

“Troy?” Abed asks, suddenly unsure. Some people cry after sex, and Troy cries a lot in general so it wouldn’t be surprising if he turned out to be one of those people, but the possibility that something could be wrong is still there.

“I’m fine,” Troy sniffles. “It’s just – I miss you so much.” And even though they’re together right now, Abed knows exactly what he means: the heaviness in his chest that comes with knowing their time together is limited. “I don’t know how I’ll be able to leave after this.”

_Then don’t,_ Abed wants to say but doesn’t. He’s certain Troy would stay if he asked him to, which is why he can’t ask.

“You can,” he says instead. “You’re Clone Troy, you can do anything, and you just got an upgrade.”

Troy looks up from hiding his face in Abed’s chest. “Is you coming inside me the upgrade?”

“If you want,” Abed says, amused, and doesn’t point out that the use of a condom would most likely prevent successful transfer of an updated gene sequence. “I meant that you’re a clone boyfriend now. That gives you extra powers to overcome obstacles separating you from your genetically compatible mate.”

Troy’s face softens. “I’m sorry. It’s shitty of me to ask you to comfort me when I’m the one leaving. Again.”

“You didn’t ask me. I want to.” He’ll always want to. “And I know you’ll come back.” He didn’t know it the first time, but he knows it now.

“You really want to wait for me?”

“Yes,” Abed says emphatically. “Waiting for one’s lover to come back from a sea voyage is one of the oldest tropes there is. Which… won’t make it fun, exactly, but it will make it a bit more bearable.” There’s no need to worry Troy by pointing out that this trope often ends with one of the lovers either dying or abandoning the other. Abed has no doubt they’ll subvert it.

“But you’ll still go to LA?”

“If I get a job there, then yes. Is that okay?”

“Yes, Abed! I meant that, I want you to go. You’ll be amazing. And I promise to come back to you as soon as I can.”

“Yes. Do that.”

They kiss for some time, lazy and languid and just a little bit sad. 

“I don’t know how long it’s gonna take,” Troy says when they break apart. “I hope no more than another year, but I don’t know. We keep running into things that set us back.” Abed knows this, he keeps setting and resetting the timer in his head counting down to Troy’s probable return, but that doesn’t make the reminder of how long they still have to go any more pleasant. He tightens his arms around Troy.

“I can visit again, though, if it takes too long,” Troy continues. “And there’s another loophole, actually. No one’s allowed to take the trip with me, except for LeVar. But there are no rules about who I can spend time with in port. So if you ever wanted a vacation…”

_“Yes,”_ Abed says immediately. Why has he never thought of that? He doesn’t how he’ll get the money, and if he gets a job he doesn’t know when he’ll be allowed to take time off, but he’ll find a way. They’re never spending this much time apart ever again, he vows to himself as he gets out of bed to fetch his laptop, very conscious of Troy’s gaze on his naked form all the while. They look at the map of Troy’s journey and his planned stops and discuss possible places where they could meet, and it starts to feel a little less terrible.

It will be different this time, Abed thinks. This time, Abed won’t have to try to convince himself he’ll be fine even if Troy never comes back. This time, he’ll know that Troy is his, even when he’s gone.

“Maybe this part of the trip won’t be so bad,” Troy muses when they close the laptop and push it aside. “Well, for me. It’ll probably be worse for LeVar. He’ll hate me more than ever.”

Abed frowns. “Why would he hate you?” Why would anyone hate Troy, especially someone who gets to spend all their time with him? Doesn’t he realize what a privilege it is?

“He doesn’t _really_ hate me,” Troy amends. “We’re kind of friends now, actually, which is _crazy,_ but he keeps saying he’ll make me put money in an Abed jar every time I talk about you, because apparently I do that a lot. And I just know I’ll be even worse now that we’re boyfriends.”

Abed laughs, and he loves Troy so much he feels drunk on it. “Maybe you should get him some nice noise-canceling headphones as an apology gift.”

“Ha! Yeah, I should do that.”

“They won’t be just so he can’t hear you talking about me, though. He’ll mainly need them because of all the phone sex we’ll be having.”

Troy’s eyes widen. “We will?”

“Of course we will. Or did you think you could tell me about your _toy_ without letting me tell you exactly how I want you to use it?”

Troy makes a little squeaky sound.

“Whenever you have a reliable internet connection, you’ll let me watch. I want to know what you do to yourself when you’re thinking about me.”

Troy splutters something incomprehensible, and Abed gives him a calculated wolfish grin before kissing him and telling him in explicit detail how it will go. It won’t compare to having Troy in his arms, nothing ever could, but it will be better than nothing. A promise of what awaits them when they can finally be together for good.

They’ll be fine.


End file.
